Have you ever wished someone could take the stress and guesswork out of budgeting? That's exactly what the FaithFi app was built for. FaithFi uses your real spending history to build a personalized plan from day one. And as you categorize transactions, it learns your patterns, automatically simplifying future budgeting so you spend less time managing and more time living. But the FaithFi app doesn't stop with the numbers.
Each daily, weekly, and monthly rhythm invites you to engage scripture, reflect on God's provision, and connect your financial decisions with your faith. And because FaithFi integrates articles, studies, devotionals, podcasts, and community support, you're never walking this journey alone. Try FaithFy Pro Free for 30 days, and for a limited time, get 25% off a pro subscription at faithfy.com/slash app. In the first century BC, Roman historian Solust said, Prosperity tries the souls even of the wise. I am Rob West.
Most people would choose financial prosperity despite its temptations, but what if you're living with financial adversity? Today we'll talk about how to be wise in good times and bad. And then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
When things are going well financially, it's tempting to take credit for your success. This can lead to sins like pride and greed. Adversity has its own set of temptations. Self-pity, bitterness, and envy are a few typical responses to hard times. And these aren't godly attitudes either.
There is a better way, of course. Christians are called to live with integrity, no matter the circumstances we face. But how do we do that consistently?
Well, according to the Bible, the key to godly living in both good times and bad is wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Fearing the Lord isn't about living in dread of punishment. It's about recognizing that He is God and we are not. It means living with deep reverence for His holiness, wisdom, and authority.
When we choose to go our own way, apart from Him, it ultimately leads us down a path that brings harm and heartache, not because God is cruel, but because we're stepping outside the life-giving boundaries He's lovingly put in place. Just as good parents set rules to protect their children, God gives us His commands not to restrict us, but to lead us into freedom, peace, and flourishing. When we understand that God's Know is always rooted in His love, we begin to see that fearing Him is not about being scared, it's about growing in love, trust, and joyful obedience to the One who created us and knows what's best for us. Wisdom isn't reserved for the successful or the strong. It's available to anyone who humbly listens to God and trusts His Word.
And when we walk in His wisdom, we begin to see its fruit. discernment. Proverbs 2.9 says the wise will understand what is right and just and fair. Guidance. Proverbs 3:6 reminds us that in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.
Blessing. In Proverbs 3.13, we read that, Blessed is the man who finds wisdom. Good reputation. In Proverbs 3:35, the wise inherit honor. protection.
Proverbs 16:6 says, Through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil. Those are some of the fruits of walking in God's wisdom, and they can take root in your life no matter what financial season you're in. But what about those who choose to live apart from God's wisdom? Scripture refers to them as fools, not as an insult, but as a sober warning. Proverbs twelve fifteen says The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.
In the Bible, a fool is someone who rejects God's wisdom and tries to define good and evil on their own. that path leads to confusion and brokenness. God's warnings are loving invitations to return to Him. When we follow His wisdom in our finances and in our life, we walk a path that leads to peace, purpose, and lasting joy.
So, how can you follow a path of wisdom in your day-to-day financial decisions?
Well, first, see money and possessions through God's eyes. Scripture reminds us that everything belongs to Him and we're simply stewards of what He has placed in our care.
So, the goal isn't to build a certain bank balance, it's to have a heart that is fully surrendered to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to shape your desires, guide your decisions, and help you use His resources in ways that honor Him. Second, financial wisdom means putting biblical principles into practice. God's word should shape not only what we do with money, but how we treat people along the way. That means walking in honesty and integrity, dealing fairly with others, and allowing the Holy Spirit to cultivate generosity, humility, and a concern for others in our financial decisions.
And third, pursue contentment. Contentment grows as we trust God with what we have, what we need, and what lies ahead. As we invite Him into our financial lives and learn to depend on His provision, the Holy Spirit helps loosen our grip on comparison and the desire for more. That's why 1 Timothy 6 reminds us that godliness with contentment is great gain. Whether you find yourself walking through adversity or enjoying a season of prosperity, you can be confident in God's love, faithfulness, and provision.
True financial wisdom isn't determined by your circumstances, but by your willingness to follow God faithfully in every season. All right, your calls are next: 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. Money always seems to ask for more. More income.
or savings. More security. But what if the better question is? How much is enough? This Faith Phi Field Guide isn't just a book to read.
It's a practical guide that helps you prayerfully answer that question for your own life. one step at a time. Order your copy of How Much Money is Enough today at faithfi.com/slash shop. That's faithfi.com slash shop. Faith in Finance is grateful for support from Eventide Investments, a faith-based asset manager pursuing investing that makes the world rejoice.
Eventide invests from a biblical worldview, helping values-aligned investors pursue integrity, impact, and performance through their portfolios. More information is available about how you can align your faith with your investments at faith5.com slash Eventide. That's faithfi.com slash Eventide. Delighted to have you with us today. This is Faith in Finance.
I'm Rob West. We're taking your phone calls today: 800-525-7000. We're going to head to Indianapolis. Steve, how can I help, sir? Hey Rob.
I have a couple of questions, if you would indulge me. Sure. My mom went to be home with the Lord back in January at about ninety eight years old almost. and her estate has afforded us about fifty K in surplus funds.
So I want to get your opinion on options trading to attempt to increase that more quickly than, say, just simply investing in the usual mutual funds. And as a little background, we have a friend who's in the options trading business. And he claims that we can double that amount with education on how to go about it in an informed way.
So what's your opinion on that? Yeah.
Well, when it comes to options trading, you know, anything that kind of starts with we can grow this quickly, you know, I'm a little suspect by because the model that we see at scripture is steady plotting, not get rich quick.
Now, with that said, options can be a useful tool in the hands of experienced investors, but they can be, depending on what type of options trading you're doing, highly speculative. You know, it's possible to lose a significant portion of your investments in a short period of time. Did he describe exactly what type of options trading he would be doing? No, we didn't get into depth that much about it.
So I think we're just going to have to maybe take a deeper dive into it and pick his brain a little bit more about how we should go about it and how do we get informed.
So we can make good decisions about whether to do it or not. I think that's right. Because, for instance, there are some very conservative strategies like what are called covered calls, where you own the stock and you sell call options to generate additional income.
Some people say you're kind of renting out your stock, so to speak, but you have to sell your shares if the stock price rises above the strike price.
So there's tax implications there, or you could lose out on a stock that's rising in value, all the way down to some advanced strategies like straddles and strangles and all kinds of things that are significantly more complex and generally aren't appropriate for individual investors. There's spreads, which is where you combine buying and selling options. You can buy puts, you can buy calls.
So there's just a whole host of approaches here. And I would think that the way to think about these is really a specialized tool, not a shortcut to wealth.
So, for most investors, especially when we're managing an inheritance, I would submit that just a diversified portfolio built for the long term is a much better foundation. But if you do use options, that would be for a small portion of your portfolio. You should fully understand the risks before placing a trade and be able to explain it to a friend or family member with good understanding. Sure. Sounds like we've got some more research to do then.
I think so. Yeah.
With this permit.
Okay, I appreciate that. But second question also has to do with my mother's estate. And this is a small thing. It's bank related as far as procedural. uh goes.
But um the bank is saying that the hundred dollars that was left over in her savings account in her name has to go into probate because my name was on the checking account with her name. And since she's deceased now, that's my account. But they're saying that it has to go into probate Uh to get that hundred dollars, hopefully. um instead of just transferring it over simply, you know, it's only a hundred dollars.
So does that make sense to you?
So it was a jointly owned with right of survivorship? Is that right? Yes. They're saying they need a death certificate, the original, and then they have to send it to the court and go through all this process. And I'm thinking, really?
For $100? Yeah.
Yeah, well, and it just doesn't sound right because if it was joint tenants with right of survivorship, then it was, you know, ownership automatically passes to the surviving owner, which is you in this case, when one dies. And so that means it does not have to go through probate.
Now, if it wasn't actually titled JTWROS joint tenants with right of survivorship, you know, that would be one possibility. In either case, you know, you would need to show the death certificate for it to be retitled in your name only. But I would probably speak to a branch manager, ask them to explain why they're requiring probate. There may be something unique or there may be a misunderstanding here, but under normal circumstances, joint tenants with right of survivorship should pay. Pass automatically without any probate.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
So I guess I'd probably have to show them proof of the joint tenant. with right of survivorship papers. You know, Yeah, I mean, they should have the title of the count without any question. That would be in their system. And then you would just have to show, based on how it's titled, that she did, in fact, pass away.
And that would be a death certificate. You know, since it's only $100, there's a possibility that your state, Indiana, I don't know, has a small estate affidavit or a simplified probate process. But there may be other things. This may just be one piece of, you know, obviously all the other things in her estate.
So. You know, if it's a part of her estate and it's not titled that way, it would need to go through probate, even if it's only $100. But I think the question is, we can avoid that if, in fact, it was titled in such a way that you are now the sole owner. You just need to prove that she passed, and then that would automatically pass to you and be retitled.
So I checked back with the bank. Steve, thanks for your call today. We appreciate it. Lines are open, 800-525-7000 to Texas. We go.
Hi, Brian. How can I help?
Okay, my mom's seventy five and she wants to live in the house until she passes away, but she's needing some extra income.
So I I was talking about refinancing on a mortgage 'cause she owns her home. But she said that she had cosigned on the loan for the daughter. Will that keep her from getting a reverse mortgage? Yeah, it's a good question. It may, probably not, but it may.
So here's the way this works: the reverse mortgage lender will look closely at her financial obligations, including any loan she's co-signed for.
So that means with the co-signing, she is legally responsible for that debt, even if her daughter is making, your sister's making the payments. If her daughter misses payments or defaults, it obviously will show up on your mother's credit report and affect her eligibility or the amount she can borrow. The heckum, the reverse mortgage, is based on her age, her home value, and financial assessment, which is credit, income, and ability to meet ongoing obligations.
So, if that co-signed loan raises her debt to income ratio or shows a negative credit history, it could reduce the available loan amount or require a set aside of funds to cover property taxes and insurance. But if her credit remains solid, her daughter's current on the loan, it probably will not disqualify her, even though they will look at it and take it into account.
So, I would have the home equity conversion mortgage lender run a financial assessment early in the process to see if that's going to affect anything. And then get a credit report to confirm there's no late payments tied to that loan or anything else. Her daughter could always refinance the loan solely in her name, but it's likely that it's not going to affect anything, and she should be just fine. Is that helpful, though? Oh, yeah, very well, guys.
That'll work, Rob. I'm appreciated. Awesome. Yeah, and if you need a lender on that, our friends at Movement Mortgage, an underwriter of this program, they're the best around in this, in my opinion. Just go to movement.com/slash faith.
And they'll run through kind of all the ins and outs of this, really educate you and your mom on this. You know, if you have any questions, they're awesome.
So, thanks for your call, Brian. Appreciate you looking out for your mom. If we can help further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break and then be back with much more. Stick around.
Have you ever started a budget only to watch it fall apart a few weeks later? You're not alone. The FaithFi app is the leading Christian budgeting app, combining smart budgeting tools, automated budgeting, and personalized insights with daily rhythms of scripture, short devotionals, and guided reflection. Manage God's money God's way. Start your free 30-day trial today to lock in 25% savings for a limited time at faithfy.com slash app.
Rising health insurance rates are pricing millions out of the market, and Christian Healthcare Ministries is here to help. CHM is affordable assurance, allowing believers to share the burden of medical bills together. You get simple, low-cost pricing regardless of health history or location. Plus, you can enroll at any time with no contracts. Break free from the huge costs and hidden fees of traditional health insurance.
Learn more at faithbuy.com/slash CHM. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000. Let's head right back to the phones. Let's go out to Illinois.
Mark, how can I help?
Well, hey. My question is this. My wife and I are retired. She is the beneficiary of An IRA from her deceased father, and she has a separate 401k from her job. And my question is: how is the best way to merge these two so we can gain income from them?
Yeah, great question. Um, so in terms of uh merging them, um, you can generally roll the 401k into your IRA or your own employer plan.
So, this is an inherited IRA, and it's a 401k with her current employer. Is that right? Well, her former employer, she's retired.
Okay, she is retired. Yeah, so you can merge those two.
So, essentially, what happens is once you separate from employment, you can roll that 401k out. In some cases, you can roll it out while you're still working. It's called an in-service rollover, but that's much less common. But once you separate from service, because you leave for another job or you retire, you can roll that 401k out, and that can be combined with that inherited.
Well, let me take that back. Because there are different rules with regard to the inherited account, you would often not combine those just because you want to be able to follow the IRS distribution rules. Do you guys normally work with a CPA or do you manage your own taxes? No, we have a tax accountant that we work with.
Okay, yeah.
So, you'd probably want to check with your CPA or accountant because you're probably going to be subject to the 10-year rule. On the withdrawals of the IRA, because that was a non-spouse inheritance. And so that will need to be withdrawn over 10 years.
Now, you don't have to do it in equal installments. You can kind of do it at whatever pace you want, but the account has to be completely withdrawn within 10 years in most cases under Secure Act 2.0. And you'll normally want to space that out so that it doesn't get added to your taxable income in a large amount where it would push you up into a higher bracket.
So most people do it over time. But because one is her account, and therefore she'd be able to let that continue to grow in the future, and one is an inherited IRA that would be under or subject to the distribution requirements, you'd probably want to keep those separately.
So she would end up with two IRAs: the IRA, which would be the recipient of the 401k rollover, and then the inherited IRA, and those would have different distribution rates.
Okay, so the advice is to turn the four hundred one K into an IRA. Yeah, and the benefit there is, you know, inside that 401k, she has a limited menu of investment options, which is nice while you're building wealth because it doesn't lead to analysis paralysis in the same way that having an unlimited number of investments gives you. But once you separate from employment and you retire and you've kind of are done accumulating, which means often you have, you know, quite a nest egg built up, I think that's the time to roll it into the IRA under the management of an advisor, where the advisor can build the portfolio in such a way that it aligns with your other assets, namely your retirement accounts and any other assets you all have jointly, understand your goals and objectives, your income needs, your risk tolerance, and then build a portfolio that's unique to you and provide the financial planning as well, where you're determining what's the appropriate withdrawal rate and making sure you don't cause increases in your Medicare premiums through something. Called Irma and just kind of all of the other factors.
So, that IRA would essentially give you far more control over the management of the portfolio, the distributions, and the actual investment selections. But that's generally the way people go once they hit retirement. And if you don't already have an advisor, then I'd encourage you to head to findacka.com and connect with maybe several certified kingdom advisors there in Illinois and land on the one that's the right fit.
Okay, and then these have to be just kept totally separate, then, is that right? Yeah, you wouldn't combine it because it's an inherited IRA from someone other than a spouse. And so it has to remain separately titled as an inherited IRA, or sometimes it's called a beneficiary IRA, because the distribution rules are different. And if the accounts were commingled, it would be difficult to tell how much needs to come out versus another account. But by keeping them separate, you know, okay, with the inherited IRA or beneficiary IRA, I know that account needs to be completely exhausted in 10 years, whereas the IRA that's receiving the 401k rollover has no distribution requirements until she hits the required minimum distribution age of 73.
Right, right.
So there's no way to combine these to produce income. Uh in a combined way at least. There isn't, but remember, you know, in terms of producing income, it doesn't really matter whether they're combined or not because, you know, the income is going to be generated by the investments in each account. And, you know, whether these investments are held in one consolidated account or they're in two accounts, that's really more of a, you know, kind of an administrative function than anything else. The income is generated by the amount of assets you have and the investments that are selected more so than whether or not this is all under one account number or two.
Mm-hmm. But the withdrawals that we take from the inherited Portion That can go into the IRA then, right?
So, if you take withdrawals from the inherited IRA, can you put them back into your own IRA only if you have earned income?
So, because she's not working, she doesn't have earned income.
Now, if you're working and you have earned income, then she could contribute as a spouse. of a working individual. But only up to the annual contribution limits.
So over the age of 50 for 2026, that'd be $8,600. Interesting.
So that inherited portion, that's just kind of gotta just float along as is. And we have to withdraw all of it and pay taxes on whatever we withdraw, of course. Within 10 years. But we could put that. into the created IRA that from the four hundred one K, right?
Yes, so you'd have an IRA that would be the beneficiary or the recipient of the 401 rollovers, and then you'd have the inherited IRA separately. The only way to get that money out of the inherited IRA, if once she's 70 and a half or older, she could do a qualified charitable distribution. Um Directly to a ministry, and if she wanted to do some, or you both wanted to do some giving. Um, so that would be an option, but other than that, it is going to be taxable as it comes out, and it can only go back into her other IRA if she has earned income or she's the spouse of somebody who has earned income.
So, I know those rules are a little tricky there, but Mark, hopefully, that clears it up. Hey, thanks for your kind remarks about the program, it means a lot. If I can help you further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. God bless you. Big thanks to my team today: Josh, Jim, Omar, Tahira.
If you want to support us, become a partner at faithfy.com/slash partner. We'll see you tomorrow. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFy and listeners like you.
